Hot Takes

hottakesvapor

"Hot Takes" is a high energy music discussion podcast featuring Crystal Eternal, Luxury Elite, Luxury Noise, Quiz, Roge Corp, Shortstuf888, and YUNG SHIRO 白. Every other Monday at 8PM ET!

  1. 13 JAN

    Episode 92: Tom Vernon

    For this installment of the show, we broadcasted with Tom Vernon! A lo-fi house artist that both Luxury Noise and YUNG SHIRO 白 have loved for years, Tom's humble, friendly affect and willingness to share his thoughts made him a perfect guest for "Hot Takes"; and we excitedly picked his brain about topics like hardware vs. software in production, binging artists' discographies, and Octopath Traveler. Starting his outsider house production while still in high school, Tom Vernon has since become a prominent name in the scene, releasing on reputable labels like Shall Not Fade, regularly appearing on lo-fi house Youtube mixes and Spotify playlists, and even playing live shows for crowds in VR chat. As an artist that Luxury Noise and Shiro both treasure, the time we got to spend with Tom Vernon went by rapidly, and we made the most of our time with him as we could! We held all chat submitted questions until the final half-hour of the episode runtime, discussing all manner of things, such as early 2010's deep house, field recordings in Japan, and staying alive while the music industry burns down. Tom gave us the 411 on his perfect show line-up, bad lo-fi house tropes, and In-N-Out Burger. Don't miss conversations about "rally house" music, echo and reverb in electronic music, and producing with all free plug-ins. If you weren't there for our visit with left field house producer Tom Vernon live, give it a listen, and be sure to join the public community Discord server and check out the latest Spotify playlists as well!   "Hot Takes" is a safe space for all opinions! Join the conversation at https://linktr.ee/hottakesvapor

    2h 6m
  2. 2 JAN

    Episode 91: Botnit

    On "Hot Takes" this week, Shiro and Crystal found a way to get yet another seminal outrun synthwave act on the show for an evening of chatting! A prominent member of the early 2010's synthwave movement, Botnit released a series of albums and singles during that exciting and explosive era of independent net-based retro electronic music. We are always trying our best to bring on acts and artists from vaporwave-adjacent scenes like the outrun synthwave scene, and because Jim and Shiro go way back, it only made sense to try to tag him in for an episode! A composer of some of the most emotionally charged melodies from the 2010's retro electronic music movement, Jim pulled back the curtain and gave us some insider info about his usage of spoken words clips in his tracks. He told us all about his love of 2000's breaks, gave us the rundown on producing with Reason, and put us on some of his favorite current vaporwave acts, like Dusqk and Webinar. During the two hour episode, we talked at great length about the Tetris CD-i soundtrack, and he gave some sound advice to the viewers about how much work it takes to make one solid, memorable track. Botnit and Shiro bonded over their shared love of British maximalist artist Bobby Tank, he regaled us with the story of being contacted by FM-84 for a very special edit of a track for a Ready Player One staff party that Stephen Spielberg attended, and he told us all about his love of Ice Cube, NWA, and Public Enemy in high school. Check out the replay of our night with Botnit if you couldn't be there for the live broadcast!   "Hot Takes" is a safe space for all opinions! Join the conversation at https://linktr.ee/hottakesvapor

    2h 7m
  3. 05/12/2025

    Episode 89: Frez Wave

    During this talk show episode, Frez Wave was our featured guest! Known primarily for their groggy, bitcrushed take on vaporwave and lo-fi house, Frez Wave was Roge Corp's number one pick for potential guests, and we had a delightful time joking around about gen Z brainrot and getting put on countless artists that inspire Frez Wave's style. Since having gotten involved with music production and the vaporwave scene five years ago, Frez Wave has released several albums, many via reputable labels such as Business Casual and 18 Carat Affair's own label Fiat LX. A true connoisseur of sound textures and effects with a hilarious sense of humor to boot, uncovering as much information about Frez and his thoughts was a joyous journey! We covered a lot of topics during our two hour stint together, including but not limited to experiences with 18 Carat Affair, describing one's music to someone on a date, and trickshotting on Call of Duty. Frez gave us the scoop on discovering vaporwave via Bronze56K and their production process with Garageband on their phone, and a small debate broke out over the work of Blank Banshee. Don't miss out on Roge Corp saying "Prefat Spout" instead of Prefab Sprout or Shiro's rant about Death's Dynamic Shroud's methods of sampling vocals. Be sure to follow us on social media and join the public community Discord server if you couldn't make it the live broadcast!   "Hot Takes" is a safe space for all opinions! Join the conversation at https://linktr.ee/hottakesvapor

    2h 7m

About

"Hot Takes" is a high energy music discussion podcast featuring Crystal Eternal, Luxury Elite, Luxury Noise, Quiz, Roge Corp, Shortstuf888, and YUNG SHIRO 白. Every other Monday at 8PM ET!